The
Health Resources and Services Administration’s Fiscal Year 2002
budget will total $6.2 billion, an increase of $545 million
over last year’s discretionary spending level.
President Bush signed legislation containing the FY 2002
figures on Jan. 10.
The
President also signed supplemental terrorist recovery appropriations,
with HRSA receiving $275 million for counter-bioterrorism activities.
“This
new budget is evidence that Congress and the administration
have great confidence in our mission and our ability to meet
it,” said HRSA Acting Administrator Elizabeth M. Duke, Ph.D.
“It is a strong vote of support for our goal to increase
access to vital health care services for the Nation’s most vulnerable
individuals and families.”
The
FY 2002 appropriation contains the following changes for HRSA
bureaus and offices:
- the
budget for HIV/AIDS programs under the Ryan White CARE Act
will increase by $103 million over the FY 2001 adjusted appropriation
to $1.91 billion in FY 2002;
- the overall budget for Primary Health Care programs will
rise by $159 million to $1.48 billion, which includes a $175
million increase over the FY 2001 appropriation for community
health centers;
- funds
for Maternal and Child Health programs will increase by more
than $57 million to almost $982 million;
- Health
Professions programs for training, scholarships, diversity
and placements will rise by $48 million to $533 million (the
National Health Service Corps was transferred to the Bureau
of Health Professions in 2001);
- the
budget for Special Programs will jump by $67 million to $369
million, largely due to one-time-only health facilities construction
projects;
- funds
for Rural Health programs will increase by $37 million to
$149 million; and
- the
budget for Telehealth projects will rise by $3 million to
$39 million, due to one-time earmarked projects.
The
increase for the health center program represents a down payment
on President Bush’s five-year plan to create new or expand health
center sites in 1,200 communities and increase the number of
patients served by 6 million. The president's long-term
goal is to double the number of people served.
Health center programs each year provide family-oriented
preventive and primary health care services to more than 10.5
million people at 3,200 access points nationwide.
The
budget also includes two new programs:
- the
Radiogenic Disease State program ($4 million) will make grants
to state and local health care organizations to support early
detection, prevention and education programs
to help thousands of individuals exposed to radiation
from the mining of uranium and the testing of nuclear weapons;
and
- the
Rural Access to Automatic External Devices program ($12.5
million) will increase the availability of defibrillators
in rural communities.
View the FY 2002 HRSA
budget table, which contains a comparison to last year's figures.
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